


Serene Heart

by SerasSanctum



Category: Magic: The Gathering
Genre: F/F, Gruulfriends - Freeform, Rewrite
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-14
Updated: 2017-12-14
Packaged: 2019-02-14 13:45:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13009104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerasSanctum/pseuds/SerasSanctum
Summary: A rewrite of some parts of Magic Story featuring Chandra and Nissa from Chandra's point of view. Not changing anything about the story, just getting in depth on Chandra's thoughts on her feelings for Nissa like we should be getting in the official story. I may write up some scenes that were referenced but weren't actually in the articles.Will hopefully be updated along with any new sets that include both characters, assuming WotC doesn't chicken out of putting them next to each other ever again. More tags to be added with additional chapters.





	Serene Heart

Chandra blazed.

She was no little candle; she was a glorious beacon of mana and light, channeling the rage of an entire world into the greatest fireball she’d ever made. The inferno obliterated every eldrazi it touched, filling the air with ash and smoke. Her mouth was opened wide in a primal cry of fury and determination. Later, they would tell her that her battle scream was matched only by the unearthly sounds made by Kozilek and Ulamog as they burned.

Chandra heard none of it.

The pyromancer stood on Zendikar, burning, killing, destroying. Chandra was… somewhere else. She stood in a shallow, green-tinted pool, surrounded by white. And standing across from her was an elf in earth colored robes, with long beautiful braided hair and deep emerald eyes. Nissa. They’d met only days prior, when Chandra had saved her, Gideon, and Jace from Ob Nixilis. In one hand, she held her wooden staff, and with the other, reached out for Chandra’s, intertwining soft slender fingers with Chandra’s own rough and calloused digits.

As they touched, mana swirled about the pair, floating them a few inches above the ground. Beautiful strands of red and green surrounded them, weaving around them, in between them, through them. They stopped being Chandra and Nissa separate. They were one whole, one spark. Chandra felt Nissa’s breath and heartbeat as though they were her own. As Nissa opened up before her, letting her tap into the powerful connection between elf and plane, giving her the energy of an entire living world, Chandra felt calm. Complete. More so than she had ever felt before. It was good. It was right.

Then, as quickly as they had come, the spirals of mana faded, returning them to their feet. Chandra was just Chandra again.

For a brief moment, she was lost. Like a part of her very being had been separated from her. Then there was darkness

-

The meal line at the Zendikari camp became Chandra’s new favorite place in the following days. Being a human campfire made her feel useful, even though she couldn’t be out with Gideon hunting down eldrazi stragglers. The healers said she should be resting in the medical tent, that her legs would heal faster if she stayed in bed, but Chandra had quickly grown restless cooped up and unable to do anything meaningful.

So instead she warmed food and blankets for the Zendikari forces. It quickly spread among the soldiers that she was the one who had defeated Kozilek and Ulamog, and they spared no effort celebrating her actions. Some of the more adventurous kor had even dragged back a chunk of what appeared to be Ulamog, fashioning it into a kind of throne for her to sit on while she couldn’t walk. They had tried similar things for the other Gatewatch members, but they tended to be off doing things instead of sitting in a throne in the middle of camp, so Chandra became the center of their attentions.  
Considering the bards were already singing songs about “The Titan Slayer,” it really wasn’t all that difficult a thing to enjoy.

Chandra had tried to include Nissa in the celebrations; she could not have ever even hoped to fell the titans on her own, after all. But all the attention clearly made Nissa intensely uncomfortable, so she quickly dropped the issue. She still wished Nissa would come out more often, though. The greatest downside to being paralyzed from the waist down was that Chandra couldn’t just go looking for her whenever she disappeared, as she so often did. The only time they were ever in the same place was when Nissa brought her a new stack of blankets to warm or a fresh pot of water to boil.

Chandra hated it.

A week ago they’d been strangers. A few days ago they had connected closer than Chandra had ever been to another person. The memory made for very pleasant dreams on the occasion that she actually found sleep. Now, when she was with Nissa, she could almost feel it again, the absolute calm of touching what made Nissa Nissa. Chandra longed for it. When they were apart it felt like she was incomplete, like she had left a piece of herself behind as they pulled apart.

It was silly, really. They’d known each other barely more than a week, and already Chandra was pining like a lost puppy. A side effect of the intense magic energy she’d been exposed to, Chandra reasoned. To her knowledge, no one had ever done something so amazing before. Who knew what effect it would have on a person?

It certainly was not a crush. Absolutely not.

-

“I don’t know if I can leave.”

Chandra didn’t think seven words could hurt so badly.

Shortly after regaining some mobility in her legs, Chandra had taken a walk down to hwere the great glyph was scorched into the surface of Zendikar. She wasn’t really sure why. She definitely wasn’t looking for Nissa. Definitely not.

She’d found her anyway, though, planting seeds at the center of the mark. Nissa seemed so solemn, almost sad. Somehow, Chandra had known exactly what was wrong.

“If I stay here on Zendikar-“ Nissa said, almost a whisper.

“I won’t hold it against you,” Chandra replied.

It was true enough. She would never find fault with Nissa’s decision. No matter how much she felt like it would tear out her heart. It simply wasn’t possible.

They talked a while longer. Chandra made a joke about her students on Regatha. Nissa laughed. It was the first time Chandra had ever heard it, and she knew immediately that it was her favorite sound in the entire multiverse. The greatest symphonies on Kaladesh couldn’t even hope to compare. The way she tipped her head back ever so slightly and how her gorgeous green eyes lit up for the first time in more than a week, it left Chandra breathless.

The sun began to rise over the horizon. Chandra stood and began to walk away.

“I’m going to start heating things up for breakfast,” she said. “Do you want me to bring you anything?”

“No,” said Nissa. “I’ll come up and get some in a minute.”

“Alright,” Chandra said as she walked back toward the camp. “See you there.”

“Chandra.”

She looked back, directly into those beautiful eyes. Her breath caught in her throat.

“Thank you.”

-

As Chandra cooked breakfast for the troops that morning, she was certain of two things.

One: wherever they ended up going, Nissa would be there with them, making everything so much better in that way she did simply by existing.

And two: it was absolutely, positively, one-hundred percent the biggest, most spectacular crush Chandra had ever had.

**Author's Note:**

> So that's the scenes from Oath of the Gatewatch. It's shorter than I was expecting but I don't feel like there was much more to write given that it was really 'Zendikar Resurgent' that started the whole thing, and I already totally made up the details on the actual channel-fireball moment from 'Zendikar's Last Stand.' 
> 
> Since Shadows over Innistrad and Eldritch Moon only had Chandra and Nissa at the very end and didn't really do much on developing them, I'm probably going to skip it, so the next two chapters are gonna be Kaladesh and Aether Revolt. I suspect they'll end up significantly longer because holy moly is there a lot to work with. Amonkhet and Hour of Devastation will probably get folded into one because I think I've only really got 'The Writing on the Wall' to work with plus probably embellishing on Chandra's PoV in 'Hour of Devastation.' So that one will probably be shorter again.
> 
> Then god knows how long it'll be before WotC nuts up and gives the gay back. This particular fic is only gonna cover canon stuff, but I'm probably gonna try something of my own after I get it updated.
> 
> Thank you for reading, and please comment; this is the first time I've ever posted something I've written somewhere.


End file.
